VfL Wolfsburg and Paderborn FC were left level after a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their relegation play-off on Thursday evening, with 27,800 fans packing the Volkswagen Arena and neither side able to find a breakthrough. The return match will be played on Whit Monday, 25 May, at the Ostwestfalen stadium, kicking off at 20:30 CEST.
Wolfsburg created the clearer chances and were the dominant side for long spells, but the finishing touch never came. Dieter Hecking said his team had to blame itself for being too sloppy in the final third, adding that sometimes the final pass was missing and at other times a technical mistake got in the way. He also said Paderborn defended better than they had in recent Bundesliga 2 matches.
The opening minutes already hinted at how close this tie could be. In the ninth minute, Santiago Castaneda fired goalwards from close range after a corner, only for Kamil Grabara and Jeanuel Belocian to combine to keep the ball out. Wolfsburg responded through Denis Vavro, whose long-range effort in the 23rd minute narrowly missed the target, before Adam Daghim was denied from a tight angle by Manuel Seimen in the 32nd minute. Christian Eriksen caused more problems for Paderborn with an attempt in the 43rd minute, while Sael Kumbedi added danger with a driven cross in the 50th minute. Eriksen tested Seimen again from a free-kick in the 68th minute, and Yannick Gerhardt headed narrowly wide after the restart.
Paderborn, the third-placed team from Bundesliga 2, had their own moment to seize the game when Filip Bilbija was played through with a chipped pass and lifted the ball beyond Grabara, only for Vavro and Joakim Maehle to clear his effort off the line. Hecking said there was also an element of fortune involved, noting that in a relegation play-off the ball did not go in and that he had warned before the match that the two games would be very tight. His opposite number, Ralf Kettemann, said the lads did a top job, were brave, and showed the character needed to leave Wolfsburg with the tie still open.
The closing stages brought one more push from the hosts, with Eriksen trying to force a late winner in the 90th minute plus one and Dzenan Pejcinovic doing the same in the 90th minute plus six. The deadlock leaves the final remaining Bundesliga place for the 2026/2027 season hanging on the second leg, where Wolfsburg will have to turn territorial control into a result and Paderborn will know a single opening could decide everything.
The first leg had already been shaped by the suspension of Vini Souza, who picked up his fifth booking at FC St. Pauli and missed out, forcing Yannick Gerhardt into Wolfsburg’s starting line-up. That detail mattered because Wolfsburg needed stability in midfield, but in the end the bigger story was the same one that defined the night: pressure without a goal, and a tie that now shifts to Paderborn with no margin for error.
